


Deep Red

by ziegler



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Edeleth, F/F, Femslash, Flowers, Fluff, Language of Flowers, Lesbians, Making Out, Romance, Yuri, shoujo ai, writing this made me gayer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 22:29:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20786090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziegler/pseuds/ziegler
Summary: Whilst on a date with Byleth, Edelgard is reminded just how important the language of flowers is - and just why she loves carnations as much as she does.





	Deep Red

**Author's Note:**

> i love these two so much! and thanks for all the lovely feedback on the first one i did for both of them too! 
> 
> hope you enjoy ♥

Edelgard sips delicately at the edge of her teacup, and Byleth leans her elbows against the table to rest her head in her hands.

“My favourite flowers? Hmm, well…that would have to be carnations, I think.”

Byleth smiles. Edelgard’s eyelids flutter in an involuntary act of private affection.

“Why do you look at me so?”

“Am I not allowed?” Byleth replies quickly, and Edelgard’s eyelids flutter again.

“...You are a charming devil.”

_I can hardly believe that this is my girlfriend_, both women think, and Byleth can’t help but laugh a little out of joy.

Surrounded by vibrant looking cookies, the fragrant citrus scent of Bergamot tea and sat beneath a beautiful blue sky, Byleth and Edelgard find themselves enjoying each other’s company. Their love affair had only bloomed recently, and both women had found themselves unable to control themselves around the other for too long these days.

A kiss stolen in a corner here and there, a longing look across the dining hall; a warm embrace in either woman’s bed in the long hours of the night...to fall in love was a terrifying, wonderful experience, and to feel such a thing flourish in a moment like this was something that, in itself, made life worth living. Edelgard had been thoroughly enjoying the luxury of getting to know somebody new in such a capacity, and Byleth was a treasure that she wanted to know everything about; and, as well as simply having such affection for her professor, Byleth was also someone that could actually hold her interest – which was a rarity in itself. 

But, like most things in life, it hadn’t all been smooth sailing. Edelgard had found herself in a position of great stress lately, thinking far too much on her future and of a past that haunted her.

Byleth had been wracking her brains on what to do to help alleviate her a little of her burdens...and, much to her delight, had actually managed to come up with a solution.

The inspiration came to her from seeing Edelgard talking to Dorothea and Mercedes inside the greenhouse from afar. Byleth remembers how she stopped in her tracks, carrying several new books towards her personal chambers; and how, even from the distance she was at, she could see Edelgard’s eyes light up at a certain type of flower within its soil.

“What is she looking at, I wonder…?” Byleth pondered to herself. “I’ll have to go and check as soon as they leave.”

And, upon doing just that, Byleth knew exactly what she wanted to do for the woman she now called her lover.

Never one to skimp out on a plan of action, Byleth had been the one to ask Edelgard to tea first. She always was the one to initiate romantic plans between the two of them; Edelgard, adorably to Byleth, always seemed a little unintentionally inept in that regard. It made her heart smile.

“Edelgard,” Byleth asks the day before today. “Would you like to join me tomorrow afternoon?”

The class under Byleth’s tutelage had come to an end for the day, and all of the other students had begun to gradually file out noisily through the doorway. Edelgard halts in her tracks, allowing Bernadetta to not bump into her back as she moves gracefully out of the way.

“Hm? Tomorrow afternoon, professor?” Edelgard asks with a coyly raised eyebrow. Byleth can’t help but smirk at Edelgard referring to her as ‘professor’ in front of their classmates filing out of the door; and, as Caspar closes the door behind himself whilst he idly shouts something to Ferdinand; Edelgard smiles, and Byleth moves a little closer to the woman she loves.

“So...what's this _really_ about?” Edelgard asks, and places her hands on Byleth’s shoulder with a slight blush on her cheeks.

Byleth chuckles, and places her hands on Edelgard’s hips. Edelgard’s back stiffens like an iron rod.

“Afternoon tea, tomorrow. We have some free time, I believe…want to join me?”

Byleth smiles her brightest smile, and Edelgard feels herself already weak at the knees. She turns away her gaze slightly to feel like she can answer with even a shred of her dignity left.

“That sounds nice enough,” Edelgard replies, as though the suggestion hadn’t just entirely made her day. “Okay. I’ll meet you tomorrow at the gazebo, I take it?”

“Sounds great to me!” Byleth says with a nod. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

_That gives me some time to surprise her_, Byleth thinks to herself with a smug smile.

Edelgard is as sharp as ever.

“What are you planning?”

“Hm? What do you mean? I already told you!” Byleth replies with a laugh in her voice. “Afternoon tea with my girlfriend.”

“Nonsense. You’ve something else in mind, don’t you?”

Byleth shakes her head in protest, and Edelgard can’t help but allow the smirk that wants to rest on her face to finally come through to her lips.

She points a finger up from the hand she rests on Byleth’s shoulder, prodding at her lover’s jawline, and Byleth can’t help but get a little lost in Edelgard’s eyes.

“I’m watching you,” Edelgard says with a smile. Byleth leans her cheek a little more into Edelgard’s finger affectionately, and Edelgard feels her heart skip a beat at the way Byleth’s hair falls against her face as she does so.

“I should be so lucky.”

“Byleth…”

As the two of them begin to go in for the familiar manoeuvre of a soft kiss, they find themselves leaping apart as though an electric bolt has separated them upon hearing a knock from the other side of the door.

“Ah!” Both women exclaim. 

“Um, professor?” They hear a timid voice say from behind the door. “I wanted to ask your help on this part of the assignment…”

Edelgard recognizes this as her cue to leave.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Edelgard whispers with haste, and Byleth smiles in reply as she asks the student who needs help to come in.

Both women allow their eyes to linger on the other as they bid a reluctant farewell; and during the evening that follows, Byleth begins to work on what she has been planning for a long time.

The woman at the greenhouse, as well as Dedue, have helped her along her way to success. Marianne also had some wisdom to impart on that front, too; even if Byleth had to drag it out of her, it was a group effort.

Byleth had done a lot to prepare for this floral declaration of love; and, as she sits at the table with Edelgard looking handsomely into her eyes in the present moment, she finds that the wicker basket she’s hidden at their feet rests excitedly against her legs, tucked away under the fresh tablecloth. 

“Carnations are your favourite flower, hm?” Byleth asks with a smile, tilting her head to the side. “Why’s that?”

“Well…” Edelgard begins, firmly keeping the teacup daintily pressed to her lips; a futile attempt to repress the lovestruck smile that slips onto her face whenever Byleth looks at her. “They’re just…beautiful. I don’t know, really…I suppose I don’t have much of a deeper meaning to it. I’m just fond of them.”

Edelgard’s lavender eyes fall away from Byleth’s gaze, and Byleth’s eyes only narrow further with a cheeky grin on her face. Both women know she’s lying. There’s definitely a deeper meaning with Edelgard. There always is.

“This is probably a silly question, knowing you…” Byleth begins. “But what would you say your favourite colour of carnation is, then?”

Edelgard allows herself to chuckle this time.

“You really have to ask me that, Byleth?” she asks in reply, placing her teacup down onto the saucer it came with. 

“No, not really…I already know the answer.”

“Well then, my darling professor…” Edelgard teases, resting her chin on her folded hands as she props them up against her head. “What colour would you say?”

“Dark red.”

Edelgard blinks in surprise, and Byleth feels her ego swell.

“What makes you say dark red, in particular?” Edelgard asks. “That’s a surprising specificity.”

“Well…” Byleth begins, sipping at the edge of her teacup. “I know a fair bit about the language of flowers, actually.”

“Is that so? I never knew you held an interest in gardening, Byleth.”

Byleth smiles warmly to herself.

“Well, I found a new reason to get involved in it recently.”

Edelgard blinks, a surprised look on her face; and Byleth is so excited to surprise Edelgard that she can hardly stand it.

“Byleth?”

Byleth recognizes this as the cue that she can’t tease her lover any longer, and finds herself laughing as she speaks. _I really went to these great lengths for this woman? I must be falling hard for her._

“So…” Byleth begins eagerly, and Edelgard feels butterflies encircling her stomach. “You know how I have been arriving late to your room for a few days this week? I’m sure you must have noticed.”

Edelgard blushes.

“I – we never had a set time, so…”

“But you noticed my delayed absence. Right?”

Edelgard blushes a little more.

“…Yes.”

“Would you like to see why?”

Edelgard raises her eyebrows.

“What did you do…?”

Byleth; a sharp, determined look in her smiling eyes; reaches down beneath the tablecloth, and pulls out a large, wicker basket that she had successfully hidden underneath it.

“Byleth…?” Edelgard gasps.

And inside, Byleth and Edelgard found themselves staring at the dozen deep red carnations that lay, wrapped in a red ribbon.

“I thought you might like these,” Byleth confesses, and this time, Edelgard can’t help but feel herself almost fall through the earth with seeing her blushing. “So I put some time into growing them.”

“Byleth…!” Edelgard repeats again, this time in a floored amazement before her lavender eyes turn back to the carnations. “You really did all of this for me? Whatever for?”

“Of course,” Byleth replies with a warm smile. “You’ve been so strung out lately, Edelgard…I wanted to do something to at least help with that. Infusing the seeds with magic seemed to really help just how ridiculously fast they grew, too. And for the record, you don’t need a reason to show someone how much you love them, you know!”

Each one of the flowers is such a beautiful, deep crimson that Edelgard feels her heart pounding._ All of this? For me?_

Both her and Byleth know exactly why Edelgard loves deep red carnations; her personal love of the colour red aside, the symbolism was something that gave off a deeper resonance within Edelgard.

The symbolism of the deep red carnation was one of deep love and affection, and Edelgard had always loved the thought that a single flower could convey so much. The beautiful touch of a carnation’s petals, the startling shock of blood red that came with each flower; to receive an entire dozen of these from the woman she was falling for meant so much more than she could express. 

Edelgard feels little pinpricks of tears behind her eyes at the act of thoughtfulness.

“How much effort did you go to in order to achieve this, Byleth?” She asks in rhetoric, before she shakes her head. There’s only one thing she has on her mind right now, and it isn’t something she can just do openly in the public eye of the monastery. Her lips tingle with a longing she’s more familiar with than ever. “Come with me. I want to be alone with you.”

“Hm?” Byleth asks in a teasing manner. “But we _are_ alone, aren’t we?”

“Come with me this instant, and stop teasing me.”

Byleth chuckles as she stands up from the white metal of her chair, and nods. “Alright, alright.”

Edelgard’s hand eagerly wraps around Byleth’s own warmly, uncaring of who might see that act of affection - and, almost in a whirlwind blur of footsteps and giddiness, Edelgard and Byleth are stood in Edelgard’s room, wicker basket at their side, and the large oak door closed firmly behind them.

Edelgard doesn’t waste any time in showing Byleth just how much she appreciates this act of affection, and wraps her arms eagerly around her lover’s neck to pull her in for a kiss.

“Mm…” Byleth mumbles against Edelgard’s lips, who refuses to stop kissing her anytime soon.

A symbol of deep love? Byleth had found, with every movement of Edelgard’s cloak as she even walked through the halls, that deep red was becoming her favourite colour for that reason, too.

Her hands wrapped themselves around Edelgard’s waist, pulling her in for a more passionate kiss as the minutes ticked away. Nothing needed to change about this moment. The fresh, floral scent of the magic-infused carnations gently rose up from the basket besides the two of them; and both women now stood in the middle of this room, kissing as though their lives had depended on this moment from the second this day began.

Edelgard kisses Byleth slowly, with as much passion and gratitude as she possibly can. Each kiss seeming as though it would whisper _thank you for loving me_, and Byleth could practically taste the words coming from Edelgard’s mind onto her lips. Byleth kisses her back with a hungry edge to her lips, desperate to feel Edelgard against them in any way she could possibly have her, and the two eventually have to pause to catch their breath.

They rest their foreheads against one another warmly as they speak. 

“Byleth…” Edelgard whispers, her lips aching with the sensation of wanting to immediately be back on Byleth’s own. “Thank you for such a thoughtful gift. I can’t believe you would do such a thing for me…”

“Edelgard,” Byleth begins in a low whisper that makes Edelgard shiver with delight, “I would do anything if it meant you would feel better.”

Edelgard smirks as they begin to kiss all over again; and, as they fall back onto Edelgard’s bed in a mess of adoration and happy kisses, deep red carnations had never meant more to Edelgard von Hresvelg as it did right now.

"Anything you gave to me will always do that, Byleth; but especially your love."

**Author's Note:**

> if you enjoyed that, [here's a link](https://twitter.com/noodletub/status/1231324476589002754) to my kickstarter for the lesbian visual novel i'm writing! feel free to follow me at [@gloomhoarder](http://twitter.com/gloomhoarder) too if you'd like! thank you!


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